February 02, 2009

I recently dusted off The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense (The Free Press, 1994) by John Ralston Saul.

I found his introduction very compelling:

"Our civilization is unable to do what individuals cannot say. And individuals are unable to say what they cannot think. Even thought can only advance as fast as the unknown can be stated through conscious organized language, an apparently self-defeating limitation.

"The power of dictionaries and encyclopedias is thus enormous.... A dictionary can as easily be a liberating force as one of control.

"In the humanist view, the alphabet can be a tool for examining society; the dictionary a series of questions, an enquiry into meaning, a weapon against received wisdom and therefore against the assumptions of established power. In other words, the dictionary offers an organized Socratic approach.

"The rational method is quite different. The dictionary is abruptly transformed into a dispensary of truth; that is, into an instrument which limits meaning by defining language. This bible becomes a tool for controlling communications because it directs what people can think. In other words, it becomes the voice of Platonic elitism.

"Humanism versus definition. Balance versus structure. Doubt versus ideology. Language as a means of communication versus language as a tool for advancing the interests of groups."

January 28, 2009

In another sign that literary criticism is losing its profile in
newspapers, The Washington Post has decided to shutter the print
version of Book World, its Sunday stand-alone book review section, and
shift reviews to space inside two other sections of the paper.

January 08, 2009

I'm curious if anyone thinks the following observation, made by C.S. Lewis in the 1940s, is less true today than it was when it was written: "If we did all that Plato or Aristotle or Confucius told us, we should get on a great deal better than we do. And so what? We never have followed the advice of the great teachers. Why are we likely to begin now?"

That's the central issue I'm after.

However, it seems unfair and inaccurate if I do not include how Lewis continues:

"Why are we more likely to follow Christ than any of the others? Because He is the best moral teacher? But that makes it even less likely that we shall follow Him. If we cannot take the elementary lessons, is it likely we are going to take the advanced one? If Christianity only means one more bit of good advice, then Christianity is of no importance. There has been no lack of good advice for the last four thousand years. A bit more makes no difference.

"But as soon as you look at any real Christian writings, you find that they are talking about something quite different from this popular religion. They say that Christ is the Son of God (whatever that means). They say that those who give Him their confidence also become Sons of God (whatever that means). They say that His death saved us from our sins (whatever that means)."

(Quotations from Beyond Personality, which was later included in Mere Christianity.)

December 25, 2008

Grand Rapids, MI -- For those who at year-end have a desire to give but fewer dollars to spare, the Theological Book Network offers an opportunity to make a significant difference in the poorest countries of the world by contributing new and used scholarly and theological books.
"The books that collect dust on our shelves are often greatly needed in libraries, schools and seminaries in the poor countries of the world," said Kurt Berends, executive director of the Network. "Individuals and institutions that clean out their book shelves can contribute to the education of many who often have no books at all."
Although the Network does not collect Bibles or popular literature, it does seek scholarly and theological books and journals, which are often unappreciated in general book drives.
Such theologians as Martin Marty and Roberta Hestenes have donated their libraries when they retired, knowing the books would be used by those who truly understood their value.
The value of donated books and the postage to send them to the Theological Book Network are tax deductible. Books and journals can be sent using media mail, a special rate offered by the US Postal Service. For more information, visit http://www.TheologicalBookNetwork.org or send books to: Theological Book Network, 3529 Patterson SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49512. A letter acknowledging the donation will be sent upon receipt of the book.
--Press release; emphasis added

August 03, 2008

With the passing of Russian Nobel Laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (obit here, and here), it is only fitting for me to praise a short hardback book I found at a used book store years ago -- perhaps the smallest hardcover with a dust jacket that I had seen to date.

Solzhenitsyn's Nobel Lecture on Literature stimulated my mind, blessed me, invigorated me. The book is still one of my greatest treasures. He was not able to deliver the lecture in person -- another cruelty in his life.
Here are some excerpts from Solzhenitsyn's lecture that I have kept in a separate file of quotations that are important to me:

And even more, much more than this: whole countries and continents repeat each other's mistakes after a while; it can happen even now, in an age when, it would seem, everything is clearly visible and obvious! No indeed: what some peoples have already suffered, considered, and rejected suddenly turns up among others as the last and newest word.

The artist is only given to sense more keenly than others the harmony of the world and all the beauty and savagery of man's contribution to it -- and to communicate this poignantly to people.

It is in vain to affirm that which the heart does not confirm.

Art opens even the chilled, darkened heart to high spiritual experience. Through the instrumentality of art we are sometimes sent – vaguely, briefly – insights which logical processes of thought cannot attain.

However, there is a special quality in the essence of beauty, a special quality in the status of art: the conviction carried by a genuine work of art is absolutely indisputable and tames even the strongly opposed heart.

One can construct a political speech, an assertive journalistic polemic, a program for organizing society, a philosophical system, so that in appearance it is smooth, well structured, and yet it is built upon a mistake, a lie; and the hidden element, the distortion, will not immediately become visible. And a speech, or a journalistic essay, or a program rebuttal, or a different philosophical structure can be counterposed to the first – and it will seem just as well constructed and as smooth, and everything will seem to fit. And therefore one has faith in them – yet one has no faith.

In contrast, a work of art bears within itself its own confirmation: concepts which are manufactured out of whole cloth or overstrained will not stand up to being tested in images, will somehow fall apart and turn out to be sickly and pallid and convincing to no one.

Works steeped in truth and presenting it to us vividly alive will take hold of us, will attract us to themselves with great power – and no one ever, even in a latter age, will presume to negate them. And so perhaps that old trinity of Truth, Good and Beauty is not just the outworn formula it used to seem to use during our heady, materialistic youth. If the crests of these three trees join together, as the investigators and explorers used to affirm, and if the too obvious, too straight branches of Truth and Good are crushed or amputated and cannot reach the light – yet perhaps the whimsical, unpredictable, unexpected branches of Beauty will make their way through and soar up TO THAT VERY PLACE and in this way perform the work of all three.

Solzhenitsyn, a great artistic and prophetic voice, falls silent in the hour we might need him the most.

July 30, 2008

I asked Susan L. Ford of the EEG Center for Neurofeedback in Tryon, N.C., which book would provide the best explanation of neurofeedback to non-practitioners.
Her recommendation was ADD: The 20-Hour Solution by Mark Steinberg and Siegfried Othmer.